Uruguay Likely to Become the First Nation to Legalize Marijuana

On Tuesday, Uruguay’s Senate will vote on a law that will allow for regulated distribution, production and sale of weed; income inequality in the U.S. is at its highest since 1928; meanwhile, Europeans are starting to believe that legalizing prostitution isn’t effective. These discoveries and more below.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that have found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

Uruguay On the Verge of Becoming First Country In World to Legalize Marijuana It’s about time that we see a country bravely break with the failed prohibitionist model and try an innovative, more compassionate, and smarter approach.

Disgraced Priest to Wed Pope Adviser’s Daughter Thomas Williams, the onetime public face of the disgraced Legion of Christ religious order who left the priesthood after admitting he fathered a child, is getting married this weekend to the child’s mother, The Associated Press has learned.

The UK’s Pro-Israel Lobby in Context London has been described by the Israeli think-tank, the Reut Institute, as a ‘hub’ of ‘delegitimisation’.

A Dissenting Opinion on Nelson Mandela Nonetheless it is important to pause during the general acclamation of Nelson Mandela/s legacy, mostly by people who have never demonstrated a fraction of his integrity, to consider a lesson that most observers want to overlook.

Go Ahead, Politicize Mandela Every major news event, no matter how sad or epochal, is transformed by the power of social media into a way to carp about politics.

Behind China’s Cyber Curtain Visiting the country’s far reaches, where the government shut down the Internet.

Meat Is Destroying the World Right around now, many Americans are picking at the last few chunks of leftover turkey.

From Slice-of-Life to Sex and Fighting: The Long, Strange History of ‘The Real World’ The upcoming “The Real World: Ex-Plosion” is just the latest iteration in the reality show’s journey to fakeness.

U.S. Income Inequality, On Rise for Decades, Is Now Highest Since 1928 President Obama took on a topic that most Americans don’t like to talk about much: inequality.

Across Europe, a Growing Sense That Legalized Prostitution Isn’t Working Don’t believe France’s reputation as a country where sexual peccadillos are always overlooked.